Which to use
“erwarten” and “erwirken” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,127
- “erwarten” frequency rank
- #26,856
- “erwirken” frequency rank
- 27983
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | erwarten | erwirken |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | auf jemanden oder etwas warten, dem Eintreffen von etwas entgegensehen; denken, dass etwas kommen oder passieren wird | nach den Regeln entsprechenden Bemühungen, zum Beispiel einem formgerechten Antrag auf ein Begehren, einen positiven Bescheid erhalten |
Where the eye mixes erwarten and erwirken
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. erwarten and erwirken follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between erwarten and erwirken
A purely visual mix-up. erwarten ([ɛɐ̯ˈvaʁtn̩]) and erwirken ([ɛɐ̯ˈvɪʁkn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27983, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
erwarten is recorded at frequency rank #1,127, classified as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈvaʁtn̩]. erwirken is at rank #26,856, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɛɐ̯ˈvɪʁkn̩].
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 27983, this pair ranks #1,792,561 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of erwarten vs erwirken
Shared letters: enrw. Private to "erwarten": at. Private to "erwirken": ik.
"erwarten" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC · "erwirken" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "erwarten" and "erwirken" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "erwarten" or "erwirken"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "erwarten" and "erwirken" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "erwarten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "erwirken" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,792,561 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "erwarten" and "erwirken" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erwarben vs erwirken". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #1,792,561 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.